Portland partner Tom Johnson Interviewed for his pro bono work

Portland partner Tom Johnson was recently interviewed by Willamette Week for his pro bono work with Ihlkham Battayev, a detainee held as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In the article, titled "Distant Justice", Johnson explained that of the approximately 450 detainees held at Guantanamo, only 10 have been charged with war crimes. The remaining 440, like Battayev, are being held indefinitely with no charges against them. Johnson, along with associate Cody Weston, filed a habeas corpus petition on behalf of Battayev, challenging the constitutionality of the detention of his client. This is the latest example of pro bono work that Perkins Coie attorneys have done for Guantanamo Bay detainees. In June, a team of Perkins Coie lawyers, along with Lt. Commander Charles Swift and Georgetown law professor Neal Katyal, won a historic Supreme Court decision on behalf of Salim Hamdan in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.